Part 3 (1/2)
[26] Greek outer mantle.
[27] Greek under garment.
And while the servant bustled briskly about his work, Pratinas, for such was his lord's name, continued his monologue, ignoring the presence of his attendant. ”Not so bad with me after all. Six years ago to-day it was I came to Rome, with barely an obol of ready money, to make my fortune by my wits. Zeus! But I can't but say I've succeeded. A thousand sesterces here and five hundred there, and now and then a better stroke of fortune--politics, intrigues, gambling; all to the same end. And now?--oh, yes, my 'friends' would say I am very respectable, but quite poor--but they don't know how I have economized, and how my account stands with Sosthenes the banker at Alexandria. My old acquaintance with Lucius Domitius was of some use.
A few more months of this life and I am away from this beastly Rome, to enjoy myself among civilized people.”
Pratinas went over to a large wooden chest with iron clasps, unlocked it, and gazed for a moment inside with evident satisfaction. ”There are six good talents in there,” he remarked to himself, ”and then there is Artemisia.”
He had barely concluded this last, hardly intelligible a.s.sertion, when the curtain of the room was pushed aside, and in came a short, plump, rosy-faced little maiden of twelve, with a clearly chiselled Greek profile and lips as red as a cherry. Her white chiton was mussed and a trifle soiled; and her thick black hair was tied back in a low knot, so as to cover what were two very shapely little ears. All in all, she presented a very pretty picture, as the sunlight streamed over her, when she drew back the hangings at the window.
”Good morning, Uncle Pratinas,” she said sweetly.
”Good morning, Artemisia, my dear,” replied the other, giving her round neck a kiss, and a playful pinch. ”You will practise on your lyre, and let Sesostris teach you to sing. You know we shall go back to Alexandria very soon; and it is pleasant there to have some accomplishments.”
”And must you go out so early, uncle?” said the girl. ”Can't you stay with me any part of the day? Sometimes I get very lonely.”
”Ah! my dear,” said Pratinas, smoothly, ”if I could do what I wished, I would never leave you. But business cannot wait. I must go and see the n.o.ble Lucius Calatinus on some very important political matters, which you could not understand. Now run away like a good girl, and don't become doleful.”
Artemisia left the room, and Pratinas busied himself about the fine touches of his toilet. When he held the silver mirror up to his face, he remarked to himself that he was not an unhandsome man. ”If I did not have to play the philosopher, and wear this thick, hot beard,[28]
I would not be ashamed to show my head anywhere.” Then while he perfumed himself with oil of saffron out of a little onyx bottle, he went on:--
[28] At an age when respectable men were almost invariably smooth shaven, the philosophers wore flowing beards, as a sort of professional badge.
”What dogs and gluttons these Romans are! They have no real taste for art, for beauty. They cannot even conduct a murder, save in a bungling way. They have to call in us h.e.l.lenes to help them. Ha! ha! this is the vengeance for h.e.l.las, for the sack and razing of Corinth and all the other atrocities! Rome can conquer with the sword; but we Greeks, though conquered, can, unarmed, conquer Rome. How these Italians can waste their money! Villas, statues, pretty slaves, costly vases, and tables of mottled cypress,[29] oysters worth their weight in gold, and I know not what else! And I, poor Pratinas, the Greek, who lives in an upper floor of a Subura house at only two thousand sesterces rental, find in these n.o.ble Roman lords only so much plunder. Ha! ha! h.e.l.las, thou art avenged!”
[29] A ”fad” of this time. Such tables often cost $20,000.
And gathering his mantle about him, he went down the several flights of very rickety stairs, and found himself in the buzzing street.
II
The Romans hugged a fond belief that houses shut out from sunlight and air were extremely healthy. If such were the fact, there should have been no sickness in a great part of the capital. The street in which Pratinas found himself was so dark, that he was fain to wait till his eyes accommodated themselves to the change. The street was no wider than an alley, yet packed with booths and hucksters,--sellers of boiled peas and hot sausage, and fifty other wares. On the worthy h.e.l.lene pressed, while rough German slaves or swarthy Africans jostled against him; the din of scholars declaiming in an adjoining school deafened him; a hundred unhappy odors made him wince. Then, as he fought his way, the streets grew a trifle wider; as he approached the Forum the shops became more pretentious; at last he reached his destination in the aristocratic quarter of the Palatine, and paused before a new and ostentatious mansion, in whose vestibule was swarming a great bevy of clients, all come in the official calling costume--a ponderous toga--to pay their respects to the great man. But as the inner door was pushed aside by the vigilant keeper, all the rest of the crowd were kept out till Pratinas could pa.s.s within.
The atrium of the house was a splendid sight, with its veined marble pillars, mosaic floor, bubbling fountain, choice frescoes, and expensive furniture upholstered in Tyrian purple. A little in the rear of this gorgeous room was seated in a high armchair the individual who boasted himself the lord of this establishment, Lucius Atilius Calatinus. He was a large, coa.r.s.e man, with a rough, bull-dog face and straight red hair. He had been drinking heavily the night before, and his small bluish eyes had wide dark circles beneath them, and his breath showed strongly the garlic with which he had seasoned the bread and grapes of his early lunch. He was evidently very glad to see his Greek visitor, and drove the six large, heavily gemmed rings which he wore on one of his fat fingers, almost into the other's hand when he shook it.
”Well met, Pratinas!” was his salutation. ”Tell me, is that little affair of yours settled? Have you stopped the mouth of that beastly fellow, Postumus Pyrgensis, who said that I was a base upstart, with no claim to my gentile name, and a bad record as a tax farmer in Spain, and therefore should not be elected tribune[30]?”
[30] The ten tribunes had power to convene the people and Senate, propose laws and ”veto” the actions of other magistrates.
”I have stopped him,” said Pratinas, with a little cough. ”But it was expensive. He stuck out for ten thousand sesterces.”
”Oh, cheaply off,” said Calatinus, laughing. ”I will give you my cheque on Flaccus the banker. But I want to know about the other matter. Can you make sure of the votes of the Suburana tribe? Have you seen Autronius?”
”I have seen him,” said Pratinas, dryly.
”And he said?”
”Twenty thousand sesterces for him to deposit with trustees[31] until the election is over. Then he as go-between[32] will make sure of a majority of the tribesmen, and distribute to them the money if all goes well at the _comitia_.[33] It was the best bargain I could make; for Autronius really controls the tribe, and some one might outbid us.”